


Vaultstuck

by traceExcalibur (orphan_account)



Category: Fallout 3, Homestuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-06-30
Updated: 2011-10-18
Packaged: 2017-10-20 21:03:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/217070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/traceExcalibur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"In the early days, thousands were spared the horrors of the holocaust by taking refuge in enormous underground shelters, known as Vaults. But when they emerged, they had only the hell of the wastes to greet them - all except those in Vault 413. For on the fateful day, when fire rained from the sky, the giant steel door of Vault 413 slid closed… and never reopened. It was here that John Egbert was born. It is here he will die because, in Vault 413, no one ever enters and no one ever leaves."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so this is a somewhat silly and somewhat serious thing that I wrote one day when I was bored. It's pretty much a blatant rip-off of the Fallout 3 plot with Homestuck characters replacing major characters from the story, but I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless!

All that is and all that ever will be exists in an endless cycle. A never-ending story.

Men are born and men die. Ideas are formed, lost to the winds, and rediscovered. A universe will end, the keystone reduced to ashen fragments, and a new universe will take its place. This is the reality which we have been given.

There exists a single exception to the rule – war. War never changes. Since the dawn of human kind, when our ancestors first discovered the killing power of rock and bone, blood has been spilled in the name of everything, from God to justice to simple, psychotic rage.

In the year 2077, the endless cycle was set to begin anew. Ushered in by otherworldly gates, the heavens themselves descended upon the Earth – only to find a battered, broken husk. For after millennia of armed conflicts, the destructive nature of man could sustain itself no longer, and the world was plunged into an abyss of nuclear fire and radiation. Against all odds, against the very nature of reality itself, it was not the end of the world. Instead, the apocalypse proved to be an unforeseen new step in the cycle, and a prologue to another blood-stained chapter of human history. Man had succeeded in destroying the world – but war? War never changes.

In the early days, thousands were spared the horrors of the holocaust by taking refuge in enormous underground shelters, known as Vaults. But when they emerged, they had only the hell of the wastes to greet them - all except those in Vault 413. For on the fateful day, when fire rained from the sky, the giant steel door of Vault 413 slid closed… and never reopened. It was here that John Egbert was born. It is here he will die because, in Vault 413, no one ever enters and no one ever leaves.

# Prologue: God's Forge In Frost

His first memory exists only as a blurred fragment, lost in the echoing chasms of his weary subconscious. Only if he strains his mind to its limit does the memory resurface, and even then it is unstable. But somehow, deep down, he knows that if he forgets everything else, this memory will remain. There’s something about it, something about the words his father spoke that feels significant. He doesn’t know why. He doesn’t know when he’s going to need it. But John Egbert knows that above all else, this memory is the key to his future.

He recalls sitting in a cage in his bedroom, the first of far too many barriers meant to keep his curiosity at bay, to keep him safe. His father leaves the room for a moment, and forgets to lock the gate behind him. Ever curious, he waddles forward, still uncertain on his feet, and he pushes the gate away, stumbling out into the vast expanse of his room. Making his way over to the toy box, he reaches in and pulls out his favourite toy – it’s a faded and torn little rabbit, covered in dirt and grime, and perhaps something more symbolic, but he’s much too young to understand. All he knows now is that this little bunny is the best friend his little toddler mind could ever ask for.

His father re-enters the room, and doesn’t seem so surprised at the sight, leaning down to pick his son up and coddle him.

“Precocious little scamp, breaking out like that. I’m so proud of you.” He pauses for a moment. “But don’t be too eager. It’s a dangerous world out there. You’re safer here in the vault with me.”

His father gives a melancholic sigh, and the boy is carried over to view his father’s favourite possession – a scrap of paper, torn from the pages of some old, pre-cataclysmic book, and framed by a simple yet beautiful silver trim. He regards the passage fondly, and speaks in a poetic voice.

 _“I slept, and saw God’s forge in frost. Its hearth was quelled, and as it cooled so swooned the verdancy it kept above. In slumber it grew a thick winter skin, white as bedsheets. In their folds the waker dreamt, her breath as steam, her touch as hot as iron, forgotten in the fire.”_

The passage has a haunting, ethereal tone to it, and from this first reading it is burned into the young Egbert’s subconscious.

“That was your mother’s favourite quote. It meant so much to her…to the both of us.” His father’s voice breaks, and a pained look momentarily darkens his expression. ”She was such a wonderful woman…I miss her, so much.” He heaves another sigh. “So very much.”

There is a moment of silence as his father looks off into nothing, lost in thought. Eventually, he seems to accept something, and his mood lightens back up.

“But that’s enough about that for now.”

The boy is set back down, and his father leads him towards the door with his warm smile.

“C’mon son. Let’s go see what your friend Jade is up to.”

With that, he follows his father out into the hallway, and the memory fades back into a muddled blur.

# Chapter One: The Steel Honeycomb

“Happy birthday!”

Bright lights flash as a chorus of voices scream out in unison, and John stumbles back, surprised.

“Careful with the lights, Stan – you’ll blind the poor kid!”

When John re-opens his eyes, he’s standing in the lounge, surrounded by the other vault-dwellers. A cheerful “Happy 13th Birthday” sign is hung on a wall, confetti litters the floor, and multi-colored lengths of tissue paper are strewn out all across the room. In the background lies a pile of gigantic birthday cakes – courtesy of Dad and batty old Ms. Crocker no doubt – and a few assorted presents as well. His father is standing before him, beaming.

“You made it to thirteen, son. I’m so proud of you.” He leans in for a hug.

“stop it dad, you’re embarrassing me!”

“Sorry, son. I’ll let you enjoy your birthday in peace.” He stands up and starts wandering over to the intercom. “Come see me once you’re done with everyone else. I’ve got a surprise for you. I think you’ll really love it.”

John turns around and finds himself staring into a pair of shining, emerald-green eyes, framed by long, thick black hair. Jade gives him a buck-toothed grin and holds out a clumsily-wrapped package.

“happy birthday john!! youll never guess what i got for you!”

“is it a cake? i’ve been getting a lot of cakes.” John snickers and takes the present, quickly ripping the paper to shreds.  He sees the title of the comic first, and then an image he knows too well, having spent nights poring over it on the internet, wishing that he could hold it in person – her present is what could only be considered the holy grail of comic books for any budding collector.

“bard quest, issue 10…they only made 25 of these! how did you—“

“i found it in a box in the storage room!! pretty cool huh? :D”

John doesn’t reply, choosing instead to lunge forward, throwing his arms around the startled girl and hugging her close. For a moment she is still, and then she smiles and returns the embrace. He can hear a few jests and assorted snickers coming from the other kids; he pays them no mind. This is, without a doubt, the best birthday present he has ever received, and no amount of teasing or torment is going to change that.

Heavy footsteps sound from beside him, and then a loud, commanding voice rings out, “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like you to let go of my daughter.”

The Overseer’s voice snaps John back to reality and he quickly obliges, releasing the girl and turning to look at the old man before him. His jacket, emblazoned with the symbol 413, is immaculately pressed and somehow it seems different than the other suits, as if he has imbued it with some of his power. His hair is white and bushy, though it has begun to recede, and he sports a thick and curly moustache, as black as his hair once was, and seemingly resistant to the effects of aging. No-one has ever seen his eyes behind a huge pair of reflective white glasses, and he always wears a ridiculous safari hat, but he manages to project an imposing aura nonetheless. John can’t help but to feel that this aura is funnelled towards him more often than any of the other vault dwellers.

“I’m sure you want to have fun, but now that you’re thirteen it’s time for you to start assuming some responsibilities around here.” The Overseer hands him a worn down electronic bracelet. “This is a SBURB-Boy 3000 Captchalogue Deck. This is a very important item for any and all vault dwellers.” He gives John a stern look, and a hint of malice momentarily flickers from behind the tinted lenses. “Don’t lose it.”

“y-yes sir!” John nods and is released, and the Overseer strides out of the room with a harrumph. He looks down at the SBURB-Boy; the screen is covered with scratches and the metal surface has rusted over, but the device itself seems to be working perfectly. He taps over to the inventory section and finds, much to his chagrin, that the entire weight limit has already been filled. With birthday cakes.

John shrugs, straps the SBURB-Boy to his wrist, and sets it to sleep mode. Looking up, he notices that Ms. Crocker is waving him over, holding a box out to him. He quickly dashes over to her.

“oh cool, a present? …it’s not another cake, is it? please tell me its’s not a cake.”

The old lady chuckles and opens the box to reveal a cache of Fruit Gushers in every flavour imaginable, from Wild Cherry Apeshit Apocalypse to Cool Fructose Monsoon, even including the limited edition Nuka-Cola Quantum Overdose flavour. His jaw drops and his mouth waters up in anticipation for his quickly approaching neural overload.

In addition to the candy windfall, John opens up his other presents to find a white undershirt adorned with a strange neon-green ghost, a baseball bat, a pair of fake arms, a Little Monsters poster, another cake (where do they get them all from?) and a copy of Problem Sleuth: Book One. Finally, the presents have all been unwrapped. He heaps about dozen of his captchalogued cakes onto the ever-expanding cake pile to make room for his new loot and thanks his guests, grinning the entire time.

John is about to head back to his father when he is confronted by his least favourite vault-dweller: Butch DeLoria. The kid has greased-up, slicked back hair, and a scowl seems permanently affixed to his face. Put lightly, he is unpleasant – put less lightly, he is a douchebag of the highest caliber. He smoothly steps into John’s path and crosses his arms.

“Nothin’ but the same old cakes here. They’re boooring, and I don’t wanna eat any more! But that old _fart_ over there,” he gestures to Ms. Crocker and his scowl intensifies, “gave you some Fruit Gushers. I’m taking them!”

John gives him a blank look. “uh, dude, these are mine. you can’t have them.”

“That’s not how I work, nerd!” Butch cracks his knuckles menacingly. “I’m hungry. I want your food. Give it!”

“no, i’m not going to.” John tries to step aside and keep moving, but Butch pushes him back.

“Give them here, or I’m not gonna let you through!”

John pauses for a moment, steeling himself, and then he breaks into a run and tries to shove Butch aside. The bully stops him cold and punches him in the gut, sending him reeling backwards – he crashes into a table and its former occupants scurry away quickly.

When he looks up, Officer Gomez has already restrained Butch, and is giving him a stern lecture about violence. John slips past the two, brushes off Jade’s worried look with a “don’t worry about me, everything’s fine.” and stops in front of his stern-faced father.

“That Butch boy was trying to start trouble, wasn’t he son?”

“uh, yeah dad but everything’s fine, i guess. he didn’t really hurt me.”

“You handled him like a real trooper. I’m proud of you, son - just try to stay clear of jerks like him from now on. He’s going to grow up to be nothing but trouble…I don’t know why the Overseer hasn’t talked to him about it yet…” He pauses and a troubled look flits across his face. “In any case, we have more uplifting matters to focus on. Wait here for a moment.”

Dad makes his way over to the intercom and speaks into the receiver.

“I think the birthday boy is just about ready. Go grab it…ok. I’ll head down right away.” He turns back to John and smiles. “Other than the bully, how was the party, son?”

John returns the smile and shows off the inventory list on his SBURB-Boy. “i  got all sorts of cool stuff! it’s almost like it’s my birthday, and christmas, or something!”

“I’m glad to hear it…but there’s something else you should see. Meet me down in the reactor room. Jonas and I have a surprise prepared for you there…and no, it’s not another cake.”

His father exits the room and John follows closely behind, but he stops for a moment; the Overseer’s voice is echoing down from an upper hallway, and there is an edge to his voice that John has never heard before. He can only make out part of the conversation: “…can’t be trusted, the both of them. They don’t belong here, they belong...when he leaves…complications for all of us, what am I supposed to tell the others…unhealthy influence on the girl, what if she realizes that she comes from the…”

The voices seem to be getting more and more faint, and the buzzing and clinking of the gears and pipes lining the walls of the vault are not helping matters. Who is he talking to? What is he talking about? John fails to resist the urge to snoop, creeping up a nearby staircase and flattening himself against the wall, craning his neck to peer around the corner. He finds himself staring straight into the chest of one of the security guards, and he jumps back immediately, nearly toppling over and tumbling down the stairs. The guard scowls.

“Didn’t anybody ever warn you about stairs, kid? Be more careful, will ya?”

John stammers an apology and hurries down to the reactor room, bemoaning his astounding failure to be stealthy. The walls are danker here, condensed moisture dripping through rusty cracks – the reactor is buried deep within the steel honeycomb of the vault. When he finally turns the last corner and arrives at the entrance, he is greeted by yet another stern face; that of his father’s lab assistant, Jonas. He looks down at John and crosses his arms, shaking his head and making a clicking noise with his tongue.

“The reactor room is no place for thirteen year olds, young man.”

 “uh, my dad said i could come down here.”

Jonas grins and gives John a light shove. “Come on, you’re thirteen now. You don’t have to take crap from jokers like me anymore! Now come on, your dad and I built you an awesome present.” He strides over to the door for the reactor storage space and taps a few buttons on the keypad. The door slides open with a woosh and he ushers John inside.

John finds his father waiting on the other side of the door, holding some sort of metallic object behind his back.

“We wanted to get you a BB Gun for your thirteenth birthday. It’s every little boy’s dream, right? But the overseer took the last one we had in storage, so we had to get a bit more creative.”

John’s father winks and hands him a miniaturized sledgehammer – the weight has been balanced to suit his strength, and a primitive spring system has been installed, allowing the hammer to easily absorb shocks and rebound for extra force.

“whoa! this is really cool, how does it work?”

As if on cue, an irradiated imp scurries in from a crack in one of the walls, dashing forwards and poking at John’s feet. The boy looks down at the imp, and then at the hammer in his hand.

“Go ahead, son.”

He grins and raises the hammer above his head, bringing it crashing down onto the hapless imp. The imp is practically vaporized by the blow, sending the hammer crashing into the ground and rebounding back upwards; the force rips the hammer out of John’s hands and it bops Jonas on the head, eliciting an annoyed yelp. The recoil sends John reeling backwards with a grunt and he looks up to see a small smattering of grist where the imp used to be.

“Good job. I’m proud of you, John.”

Jonas staggers to his feet and pulls out a camera.

“How about a picture of the birthday boy, hm?”

He clicks the button, the camera flashes, and everything goes white.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John fends off some bullies, takes the G.O.A.T exam, and starts to suspect that things might not be as wonderful as they seem down in the Vault.

#  Chapter Two: How Things Work In This Vault 

In the next memory, John is wearing the flimsiest, most ridiculous looking disguise possible. A fake pair of glasses with matching rubber nose, one of his father’s hats, and a toy pipe. Dad doesn’t seem very amused.

“Son, I know you are reluctant to take the G.O.A.T. exam, but I assure you it won’t be painful at all. Go on and take the test.”

“errrr who is son person? i am…um…victor.”

“John, I know that this is you. This is my old disguise, remember?”

“no is john. is victor.”

“Normally I’d commend you for trying to raise your pranksters gambit…perhaps even say I’m proud of you. But today isn’t one of those days. Go take the test, John.”

Reluctantly, John de-equips his master disguise and heads for the door.

“fiiiiine…”

“Good luck, son. I have faith in you!”

John marches out his father’s office and through the creaky, metallic corridors of the vault. Nondescript clanging noises ring out from the pipes and gears lining the walls, and the air is alive with whispering and murmurs echoing in from underneath doors and through vents. The older John gets, the more the noises give him a strange sense of foreboding, as if every sound is a dark secret seeping in from the world above him.

A more pressing matter is the sound of an argument coming from outside the schoolroom. Jade is backed up against a wall, with Butch and his gang forming a ring around her. From what John can hear, it seems that they are taunting her about being daughter of the Overseer. He won’t stand for bullying – John intervenes immediately.

“hey, leave her alone!”

Butch turns around with a scowl and points to the newly-embroidered snake logo on his leather jacket.

“We don’t gotta listen to you, Egbert. We’re the tunnel snakes!”

His cronies echo him, shouting out “ _Tunnel snakes rule!”_

“you don’t have to listen to me, but you’ll have to listen to the overseer and he’s gonna get really mad if you pick on his daughter!”

“Like I give a damn what that old fart thinks’a me. Or what his precious little daughter thinks, either.”

“come on butch just leave me alone!!! just because im his daughter doesn’t mean you need to pick on me, i didnt choose to be born like that >:(“

“yeah, dude. lay off her.”

“What’re you gonna do about it if I don’t, huh? Gonna fight me?”

“i don’t want to fight you, butch. just let us go to class.”

“No way.”

“i really don’t want to hurt you.”

“Like you could!”

John has had about enough – he decaptchalogues his hammer and lunges forwards, catching Butch in the gut. The bully crashes to the floor, wheezing. The other two Snakes start to back away, and John points the hammer at them.

“i don’t like hurting people but if you won’t listen to me and leave jade alone, i’m going to do that to you too!”

They abscond immediately. John turns back to Butch.

“they didn’t want to support you, butch. as soon as you went down they lost the will to fight. and that’ll happen to you again if you keep being a jerk to everyone – nobody really wants to hang out with a jerk.”

“S-shut up, dork! I can handle myself!”

“really, dude? really?”

John shakes his head, takes Jade by the hand, and starts walking back towards the classroom.

“john that was sooooo cool!!! youre my hero <3”

“heheheh, thanks.”

His confident mood is quickly deflated when he enters the classroom. A projector is placed in the center of the room, displaying a “Welcome” slide. His teacher, Mr. Brotch, commands everyone to sit down and stay silent for the remainder of the test, and hands all the students a form numbered 1 through 10. John gulps.

“Question one. You are approached by a frenzied vault scientist…”

Time passes as the questions flare by and the students scribble on their tests. For the most part, John finds the test much easier than anticipated – it feels more like a personality quiz than a final exam. Still, he cannot shake the feeling that one wrong answer will doom him to an unsuitable career. There is no way that every single resident of the vault is happy with their job, after all. Some of them must have flubbed the test and ended up working a job they hated.

The test runs smoothly up until the last question.

“Who is indisputably the most important person in Vault 101: He who shelters us from the harshness of the atomic wasteland, and to whom we owe everything we have, including our lives?”

There were four possible answers, but John can’t help but feel that this does not even count as a question…all four answers are the same. The Overseer. He raises his hand curiously.

“Yes, Mr. Egbert?”

“well, er…i don’t understand the last question.”

The room was already silent, but it feels like a second, more deadly hush falls over the crowd.

“How can you not understand it? It’s the easiest question. All four answers are the same, you can’t fail it no matter what.”

“well, yeah. but i thought this test was supposed to get our opinions on things. what if my opinion is that the overseer isn’t indisputably the most important person in the vault?”

Somebody in the room gasps. Mr. Brotch speaks with a definite edge to his voice.

“But he is the most important person in the vault. That _is_ an indisputable fact.”

“so what’s the point of the question? it’s not really asking us anything, it’s just telling us something. it’s a pretty stupid question, really.”

“Please, finish the test Mr. Egbert. You can discuss it with me after class if necessary.”

John sighs and circles the first of the identical answers, and brings his test up to Mr. Brotch to be evaluated. He checks off some boxes and looks back and forth between his papers before writing on the test and smiling.

“Congratulations, Mr. Egbert. You’re slated to be the next Batterwitch Assistant.”

John blanches.

“what???? i don’t want to do that, i hate baking!”

He is met with a very serious look from his teacher.

“Look, John. I’m not sure you’ve caught on to how things work in this Vault, but you’re going to have to learn soon.”

Mr. Brotch leans in and whispers.

“Lesson one: don’t cross the Overseer.  Lesson two: nothing here is as set in stone as it seems. Lesson three: don’t trust what other people tell you.”

“uh, what do you—“

“If you don’t want to work this job…I can change the results. You’re a good kid. You deserve better.”

“but that’s cheating! that’s wrong, isn’t it?”

“Heh…like I said. You’re a good kid. Now get going, I’ve got more tests to grade.”

John leaves the room just as confused and uncertain as he had been when he entered it. Why does he feel a foreboding feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever the Overseer is mentioned? What did Mr. Brotch mean when he said nothing in the vault was set in stone? And why shouldn’t he be so trusting – aside from the petty bullies, nobody here would dream of hurting him…right?

The memory sinks back into a whirling blur of images, and everything goes white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got around to finishing the second chapter! Sorry I took so long >____>  
> I hope you enjoy it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John's father abruptly leaves the vault. John and Jade must work together to confront the Overseer and escape before it's too late!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For this chapter I abruptly switched to past-tense as opposed to present-tense...the story just wasn't flowing right for me when I tried present-tense for this chapter, so I'm switching to past-tense from now on to keep the story going strong. Flashbacks or flash-sideways might still use present-tense, though, to keep things somewhat consistent. I hope you guys don't mind the switch!!

#  Chapter Three: Wake Up

“john wake up!!”

The lights in his room flashed on with a sudden urgency, and John awoke to Jade’s panic-stricken face. His mind was fogged over with the dreams he had been having – dreams about his past. The light was blinding and he wanted to curl back into his bed and sleep, but before he had time to react, she had pulled him from his bed and shoved his ballistic hammer into his hands.

“jade, wh--?”

“your dad left! and my dad…he flipped and he shot jonas and hes sending the guards to come get you!! youve got to get out of here now!”

His groggy mind was spinning. It couldn’t be true. Nobody ever enters and nobody ever leaves – how could Dad have left? Why?

“i am so sorry about all this but you have to hurry! im going to try and talk to my dad, meet me at the vault entrance!”

With that, she dashed out of the room, and John was left staring at the weapon in his hand. His eyes were blurred over with the typical morning-time gunk, but his mind felt worse. He was having trouble taking it all in…Jonas, dead? His father, gone? The Overseer gone mad? It had to have been a mistake, perhaps it was some misguided prank that Jade was trying to pull.

But as John rubbed his eyes and his mind began to clear up, he realized that the vault warning lights were flashing red and sirens were blaring from down the hallway. Worse, he could hear the chattering and giggling of imps running amok through the halls. He staggered over to the table and equipped his SBURB-Boy, checking the inventory list. All of the birthday presents he had kept throughout the years were stored there, as well as a baseball bat, a single stimpak for healing purposes and more cakes than he cared to count. The stimpak was the only item that John thought might prove useful, but he had nothing better to fill his sylladex with, so he strapped it onto his wrist as it was and set it to STRIFE! mode just in case.

The hallway outside his room was empty except for a single imp, which he quickly dispatched. Cautiously, he turned the corner and found himself face-to-face with one of the vault guards and a pistol aimed squarely at his forehead. Out of the corner of his eye, behind the officer, he saw that another imp was scurrying around.

“Johnathan Egbert, you are under arrest for suspicion of conspiracy against the Overseer. “

“what? i didn’t…” he trailed off as he watched the imp creep up behind the guard and grin. “move, there’s a rad imp behind you!”

The guard smirked and stood his ground.

“Prankster to the very last, huh? Hands behind your hea—“

Instinctively, John ducked just as the imp bit down on the guard’s leg. The guard recoiled and fired a shot into a wall, and John took the opportunity to decaptchalogue his hammer and drive it into the man’s gut at full force. As the officer doubled over in pain, John ran past him and ducked into one of the vault washrooms, closing the door behind him. There was a second door to the washroom which served as both a fine escape mechanism and a shortcut, and when he turned the next corner he was sure he was well away from his assailant.

The fact that an officer was actually willing to pull a gun on him was disconcerting, though…Jade was _not_ kidding around when she said he had to leave the vault as soon as possible.

“Help, somebody’s gotta help me!”

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shout, and Butch came careening into the hallway with a panicked expression. He froze up when he saw John.

“I mean…uh…”

“what’s wrong?”

“It’s my mom! The rad imps are surrounding her, they’re gonna kill her and I…well I’m scared of them, ok?” He turned a bright shade of red and averted his eyes.

“pfffheheheh, you’re scared of them? they’re just these little imps.”

“Shut up! I mean, don’t…I mean…you gotta help me, man! I can’t do this!”

 “you bullied me for all my life, and you think i’m just going to help you?”

Butch’s face fell.

“W-well…I didn’t mean any of that, alright? I just…I was just messin’ around, and…you knew I didn’t mean it right, bro? We’re chill, so please—“

“you’re lying.”

 “No, I’m…I just…oh god, I’m sorry man, I’m so sorry…b-but I need you, if you don’t help she’s gonna die!”

John smirked and decaptchalogued his baseball bat. He thrust it into Butch’s hands, and the boy looked up at him, confused.

“What’re you…?”

“come on, dude. we’ve got rad imps to kill.”

Butch’s eyes watered up and he smiled back weakly, clutching the bat and dashing down the hallway.

“She’s this way!”

John followed Butch to his block, and the room past the entrance was not a pretty sight. Imps had trashed the place; dressers had toppled over, a lamp had been smashed, food and clothes were strewn about the foyer. In the corner, Mrs. DeLoria was kicking and screaming, trying to fight off the imps that were gnawing and scratching at her. Butch seemed too scared to fight, even for his own mother’s sake, but John took charge – he dashed forwards and pulled one of the imps away from the poor woman, and tossed it into a wall. His hammer met the imp before it could recover and reduced it to grist. The other two imps turned on him, but he made short work of them. Butch was awed.

“Whoa man, you’re…you’re fuckin’ awesome!”

 _“Language, son!”_ his irate mother exclaimed, although neither of them were paying attention.

 “heh, yeah. i am the hero, it’s me.”

“You _are_ a real hero…you’re a better guy than I thought you were Egbert. I’m makin’ you an honorary Tunnel Snake!”

Butch pushed a leather jacket into John’s arms against his will, wiping a tear from his eye as he did so.

“oh, uh…thanks, butch. i guess.”

“Anytime, man. I owe you one.”

“ok! just remember, those imps are easy to beat if you’ve got a weapon. keep this bat and next time you can be the hero.”

“Right…yeah, I can do this man!”

John waved goodbye to his new ally and left the room, intent on reaching the vault entrance as soon as possible. Aside from the occasional imp, the corridors were empty. All of the residents seemed to be hiding in their rooms. As he passed one window, a man ran up to it and started banging his hand against it, cursing John and his father for ruining the vault. John tried his best to ignore it, and keep the stinging feeling in his heart at bay as he crept his way through the winding passageways.

As he crept around another corner, a hand seized him by the wrist and pulled him into an empty room. He tried to struggle, and Mr. Brotch’s voice silenced him.

“Don’t move, John! He’ll see you!”

A guard walked up to the door and Mr. Brotch released John, blocking the entrance.

“Rob, if you’re looking for Egbert, he ran past the other way a while ago. Go get him, ok?”

“Yeah, sure Brotch.”

The officer continued on, and Mr. Brotch waited until his footsteps could no longer be heard before turning back to John.

“That was a close one, he almost caught you.”

“thank you, mr brotch!”

“No problem. Now get going; I don’t know exactly why your father left, but I saw it coming, and I know you’re dead if you don’t make it out. Don’t show anyone any mercy and don’t trust what they say. Stay safe, you’re a smart kid and I’d hate to see you die.”

“thanks again!!”

John left the empty room and continued on ahead, winding his way through the steel honeycombs. He slipped past another guard in the main computer room, and found more imps to battle in the atrium, and soon he was near the Overseer’s office.

The sound of Jade’s voice rang out and he stopped dead to listen.

He could hear an argument coming from the security headquarters down the hallway. He dashed forward, peeking in the window to see three people; the Overseer was looming over Jade with a menacing look.  Jade was recoiled against the wall, shrinking away in terror. Officer Mack was in the corner, clutching a pistol and scowling.

“What have they told you? Where are they?” The Overseer’s voice was deathly calm, but each word dripped with pure, undiluted malice.

“i-i dont know!! john didnt tell me anything and neither did his dad! i think you are making a big mistake!!”

“Jade, I don’t want to hurt you. But I need to know why James left, and I need to know what John intends to do. The safety of my people depends on it.”

“what safety? youre the one who is shooting and hurting everyone!! john and his dad didnt do ANYTHING!”

For a moment the Overseer seemed to snap, the muscles in his face twitching and breaking out into a manic grin. He pushed Jade against the wall, snarling.

“You would choose the outsiders over the man who raised you as his own...? So be it.”

The Overseer’s hands found her throat; John had seen enough.  He rushed into the room, readying his hammer, prepared to fight if necessary.

“why are you doing this? leave jade alone, she didn’t do anything!”

In a flash, Mack’s gun was aimed squarely at John’s chest, and the Overseer pushed Jade aside. He turned around to open his gun cabinet, retrieving an absurdly large blunderbuss and pointing it towards John. He nodded to the chair in the center of the room. Cautiously, his hammer positioned to strike at any time, John made his way over to the chair and sat down. Jade hovered near the entrance uncertainly, her body still shaking with fear.

“um...daddy what are you going to do with him?? dont hurt him please!”

The Overseer raised a hand to silence her and glared at his prey.

“I should have known the three of you would be nothing but trouble. He was a dangerous man with dangerous ideas, and now look at the place! People have died, you little bastard, and it’s all your god damned father’s fault!”

“i’m sure he didn’t mean t—“

“Of course he meant to! He’s been plotting against me ever since he got here!  And you think I can just let you go? Send you off on your merry way out into hell? I wish it were that easy! You know too much, kid. You knew he was going to do this!”

“what are you talking about? i don’t know what my dad was doing, i don’t know anything about that!”

“Bullshit. He’s been talking with the both of you. Selling you my secrets, filling your mind with his purification crap! But I’m not going to stand for it, you’re going to die here and everything can go back to the way it was before he came knocking on the door and fucked us all over!”

He levelled the blunderbuss and wrapped his finger around the trigger, a crazed grin plastered on his face.

“Outsiders have no place in MY VAULT!“

 **_BANG._ **

His instincts took control again and John lunged forward with the ballistic hammer. It met the Overseer’s face with a satisfying crack, shattering his nose and knocking him backwards into a locker. John’s glasses and face were spattered with blood, and the force of the blow propelled him backwards, sending him spinning and crashing into the chair. With a strangled yelp he flipped forwards and found himself hurtling towards Officer Mack’s legs  - he reacted quickly, sending the hammer smashing down onto Mack’s foot. The officer screamed out in pain and doubled over, collapsing to the ground and cradling his crushed appendage.

John staggered to his feet, gripping the hammer tightly and surveying the scene.  The Overseer was sprawled out across the floor, his head leaning against one of the lockers and his red-stained hat lying crumpled beside him. His glasses were cracked and they had slipped down his face – his eyes, which were visible for the first time John could remember, were closed. Blood was gushing from both his broken nose and a gunshot wound in his leg. Mack was curled up in the corner, howling in pain.

“oh god, sorry mack!” John made a step forward to help the officer. “it was just reflexes, i didn’t mean to break your—“ he stopped dead as his mind whirred and something clicked into place. Mack was prepared to kill him. The Overseer was prepared to kill him. This was no game and this was not a joke, it was a life or death situation and just as Mr. Brotch had told him, the two men deserved no mercy. John was about to take Mack’s handcuffs from his belt and restrain him when a shaky, tortured voice rang out from behind him.

“i…i shot him… D:”

 John whipped around and saw Jade, standing at the door. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably; she had dropped her gun and she was staring at her father, horrified. Tears were streaming down her face, rolling off her chin and dropping to the floor, and John realized it was the first time he had ever seen Jade cry. Her shirt and pants were flecked with the blood that had sprayed out when the Overseer’s nose was broken. John stepped forwards, forgetting about Mack, her tears drowning out his screams. He bent down, picked up the gun and captchalogued it, and then took Jade’s hand and tried to lead her out of the room.

“you had no choice, jade! he was going to kill me, he might’ve killed you, too!” His words were useless. She wrenched her arm away from him and ran back, sinking to her knees in front of her father’s body and sobbing.

“w-we killed him!!! he...he was my dad, and...and...” She broke off into another wail and covered her face with her hands. John quickly stooped beside her, and grabbed the Overseer’s wrist. There was still a weak pulse, and despite everything the Overseer had done, John knew he could not bear to live with the guilt of murdering the man. Reluctantly, he took out his only Stimpak and injected the healing serum into the Overseer’s wrist. Almost immediately, the blood began to pulse through the man’s veins, and he began to stir weakly.

“jade! he’s alive, he’s going to wake up! i’m sorry, but we have to leave now, before he does.” John grabbed her hand again, and she looked up at her father with bloodshot eyes. His eyes flitted open for a moment, dazed and unfocused, and he groaned.

“hes gonna be ok?? are you sure?”

“yeah, but we really need to get going before he realizes what just happened and comes after us!”

Slowly, she stood up, leaning against John and murmuring, “youre right…he was gonna hurt us, we…we had no choice!” She seemed to be speaking to herself, reassuring herself that she had done the right thing. John nodded in response and continued down the hallway.

“we need to get to the vault entrance, are there any shortcuts from here?”

“yeah…through my dads…” her voice broke for a moment and she stifled another sob. “through the overseers office.”

The office was only a short distance from the security HQ, but upon reaching the door, John discovered that it was locked. It was reinforced with steel, as well; trying to break it down would prove a fruitless effort.

“damn, how do we get past this?”

Jade answered him by drawing a bobby pin from her pocket and jamming it into the doorknob. Moments of intense concentration and pin-wriggling later, the lock clicked open.

“whoa, how’d you do that?”

“ehehehe, the locks in the vault are really easy to pick!!”

John narrowed his eyes; this was the first he had ever heard of Jade breaking a rule.

“you’ve picked locks before?”

“ummmmm….. ;>_>” She blushed furiously and tried to avoid his gaze.

“never mind, let’s just keep going.”

The Overseer’s office had a circular shape, and it was sparsely decorated. A portrait of Jade hung from a wall, but aside from that the only items of furniture were his desk, his cabinets, and his bank of computers. The desk was sitting atop a slab on the floor that looked oddly separate from the rest of the room, and both the bank of computers and cabinets were arranged against the far wall. A wide window on to the left looked out on the main atrium of the vault.

“now i think theres supposed to be a secret passage somewhere in this room. but i have no idea where it is!!! :o”

“let me check the computer.”

John made his way over to the computer and tapped on a few keys. As expected, the computer was encrypted and required a passcode. He took a seat and started typing long strings of code into the machine, trying to crack the encryption. Jade peered over his shoulder, curious.

“oh gosh john, do you know how to hack computers??”

“heheh, i boned up on my data structures when i was studying in my room. i’m still pretty shitty at it though, so…”

ACCESS DENIED.

Surely enough, his attempt failed.

“oh god damn it! now we can’t get in without the password…”

“hmmmmm……try my name!”

Jade pushed him aside and seized control of the keyboard. She entered “JADE” into the console, and with a triumphant ‘click!’ it was accepted. She grinned at John and with a few keystrokes she activated the Overseer’s escape tunnel – the slab beneath his desk sank into the ground to form a staircase to a passageway below the office floor.

“come on!!” she gave him a thumbs up and hopped down into the tunnel, but John was distracted by the computer – namely, a set of logs saved onto the drive, detailing explorations outside the vault.

No-one ever enters, and no-one ever leaves. What a load of bullshit.

He scanned one of the logs, and it made reference to a settlement known as “Megaton”, which was close to the entrance of the vault. The Overseer had made multiple trips there, and even bartered with them for supplies, and aside from a few select individuals he had told nobody in the vault. John was having trouble understanding why the Overseer would be so secretive, but he had a hunch – control. The Overseer seemed so paranoid. John was often the recipient of strange glances from the Overseer but he had never understood them; now, he realized that the Overseer suspected his father, and cast those suspicions on him as well. John’s father had always seemed overprotective, but now his reasons were clear. The Overseer had always seen them as a threat, and he had been anticipating this turn of events.

John was about to open a folder of notes regarding his father, hoping to shed some light on his disappearance, when Jade’s voice rang out.

“john, hurry up!!!! i think i can hear my dad coming!”

“right!”

John recoiled sharply and jumped backwards, landing beside Jade on the staircase. He took her by the hand and together they started dashing through the passageway. It was infested by more imps, but John’s hammer was more than enough to handle them, and in only a matter of minutes they found themselves staring at a gigantic gear-like opening, emblazoned with the numbers “413”.  It was a nigh-impenetrable barrier, sturdy even against the force of a nuclear bomb, and it served as the entrance to the vault.

Jade pulled him towards a panel and touched a small red panel on it, and with a roar and a creak the gear began to recede into the wall. It revealed a small, rocky tunnel, which led to a wooden door. Beyond the door, a bright light was spilling out, a light unlike any John or Jade had ever witnessed – it was the light of the outside world.

“alright john, go now before anyone else comes!!”

“what about you, jade? you can’t go back there.”

“i dont have any choice!! i have to go try and calm my dad down! and……and im scared”

“i’ll protect you! i don’t want you to go back there and get hurt, or even worse!”

John tried to pull Jade along with him, but she would not budge. At first he thought she was too stubborn to leave, but the sound of a third voice brought him to his senses and he looked back at the vault to see the Overseer standing by the entrance to the escape tunnel, clutching his blunderbuss weakly.

“Ingratitude and disobedience!”

Jade shrank back, tears welling up in her eyes again. The Overseer stepped forwards and roared.

“GET OUT!”

She stumbled backwards and John caught her, but still the Overseer advanced.

“Ungrateful bastards, all three of you! Don’t pollute my vault any further, if you’re so intent on leaving, just go! And look at what you’ve done, look at all the people who are dead because of you!”

“because of us???” Anger flashed across Jade’s face, and rather than retreat she took a step forwards. “youre the one who shot jonas just because he was helping mr egbert!!! you had them go after john too when they could have been helping kill the imps! this is YOUR fault, not his!!”

A vein pulsed in the Overseer’s forehead and he stepped forwards again, forgetting to raise his weapon.

“How dare you speak to your father that way, did the last nineteen years mean nothing?”

“youre not even my real dad, are you??????”

“I—“

John stared back and forth between them incredulously, trying – and failing – to understand where the conversation was taking them.

“all this time ever since mr Egbert left, youve been clumping me in with him and john whenever you talk about us!! and you never told me anything about my mother, either! youre a liar, youve been lying to everyone about everything all along, havent you??”

The Overseer grimaced and looked away.

“My wife died the evening before James arrived, kicking and screaming just like the two children he brought with him, begging to be let in. Ironic, isn’t it? The man who could have saved her, and he was too late…

I let him in. My vault needed a doctor, I had no choice. But I didn’t trust him. And in return for providing him shelter, and a job…I wanted a daughter. A man like him couldn’t raise you properly, just look at what happened to his son!

 And I was right, wasn’t I? I shouldn’t have trusted him. He left! And he corrupted the both of you!”

“dad thats not—“

“That IS what happened!”

His manic demeanour was returning, and he clutched his gun steadily once more. Jade took a step back, and took John’s hand – he let her pull him backwards, towards the exit, too stunned to respond. How could he have lived to adulthood, and never realized that Jade was his sister? And why…why was this news so crushing?

“fine!!!”

Jade’s voice shook him from his reverie and he started to move backwards of his own accord.

“i was just a payment this entire time then! i was just the price mr egbert had to pay so his children could be safe!!!!”

“No! I really did care for you, Jade. I wanted you to lead a better life than one out in the wasteland, why can’t you see that? Why do you support them instead of me?“

“if you really cared for me you wouldnt have done any of this!! you wouldnt have lied and cheated and tried to kill us!!”

“You have to understand! I wanted to be a good father! I was…afraid.”

“afraid of what???”

“I was afraid of this! Afraid of you trying to leave me! Afraid of losing my daughter to the waste-dwelling scum who thought he was fit to raise you!”

“waste dwelling scum??? i cant believe you! i dont care if you were afraid of losing me, i am NOT YOUR DAUGHTER ANYMORE!!!!”

Jade abruptly turned on her heel and ran, bursting through the wooden door to the outside and slamming it shut, leaving a trail of tears behind her. John watched her leave, and turned to the Overseer. The man had dropped his gun and was left reeling, a crazed look in his eyes. He stumbled back into the vault, and set the door to close.

“Good riddance to the both of you!” he called out, trying to sound strong, but John could hear the regret in his voice. His glasses had vanished – they must have slid off his face during the fight – and his piercing, bloodshot glare followed John until the door obscured the sight.

With a resounding clang, echoing with finality, the vault closed. John was left standing alone in the tunnel, struggling with his own thoughts. Before him, sealed off by a great iron cog, was the sheltered life his father had been so desperate to keep for him. Behind him, the brilliant light of the sun awaited him, but so too was the darkness of the unknown lurking, waiting to swallow him up.

His mind was swimming, not only with metaphor but with the new knowledge he still had to process. Jade was his sister. The Overseer was a madman. His father was somewhere out in the wasteland, and he had no idea why, or where to go. What was he going to do…?

He took one shaky step towards the door, and then another. His footsteps gained strength as he moved, and as he tried to assure himself that everything would work out. After what seemed like hours, he reached the exit, grasped and turned the handle, and opened the door.

The blinding light flooded his eyes, and he stepped out into his new life in the wasteland.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise not every chapter will end in a fade to white, by the way >_>


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade, fresh from the shock of her fight with her so-called father, tries to keep her negative emotions at bay as she and John explore Springvale and search for the city of Megaton.

# Chapter Four: Springvale

Jade was crying; it surprised her how fast the tears were coming. The Overseer played the part of doting dad and played it well, but deep down she knew all along that something was wrong. There had always been some strange barrier between her “father” and herself, though she could never quite understand why. He seemed to treat her less like a person and more like an object that he had to keep close for fear of it being stolen. In retrospect it should have been obvious that they weren’t related. He was worried about who she spoke to, and what she learned…it was paranoia. She was never really a daughter to him. She was just a twisted kind of substitute.

She felt like should have seen it coming. She was possessed of an odd sort of precognitive ability - images and sounds would flash through her mind when she was asleep, and linger for a while after waking. She kept a dream journal at all times, and hid it from the Overseer. His prying, judgmental eyes certainly wouldn’t treat her dreams as if they were a good thing. They _had_ come in handy, though – she couldn’t change the future no matter how much she tried, but she could prepare. When old Ms. Crocker slipped and fractured a hip bone, Jade was first on the scene to help. When Wally Mack accidentally locked himself in a storage cabinet, he was spared hours of waiting and screaming for help because she knew he would be there, and rescued him right away. She had even woken up in the morning with visions of Mr. Egbert’s escape fresh in her mind. Her precognition told her so much about the future, but it would not reveal the truth about her so-called father. Go figure.

Who was her _real_ father, then? It had to be Mr. Egbert, she supposed. She did look a lot like John – she shared his black hair, glasses, and buck teeth. Now, her mood was soured, but normally she would also share his sunny disposition. It would not take a big stretch of imagination to assume that she was his brother.

As if on cue, the door creaked behind her, and John stepped out into the open.

“whoa...”

She wiped the moisture from her eyes and looked to face him. He was staring out at the world before him, and she turned back to look for herself. When she first left the vault, her eyes were too tear-stained and misery-blind to take in the full effect of the view, but now it hit her at full force.

Desolation stretched across the land, as far as the eye could see. They were standing on a small cliff, and below them the land was scattered with rubble and debris. The scorched remains of a neighborhood dotted the landscape, and the pavement was etched with cracks. Greenery was scarce; the only foliage came in the form of small bushes. Crumbling chunks of what used to be a highway were silhouetted against the horizon, backed by the harsh glare of the sun.

“wow…..”

The words dropped unbidden from Jade’s tongue, but she was glad for the opportunity to push her more sombre thoughts aside for a while.

“it’s a pretty amazing sight, isn’t it? i thought it would be a lot worse. remember what they taught us in school, about the rivers of magma and terrible, 20 foot tall monsters?”

“hehe, yeah.”

The two of them chuckled for a moment, and for a moment everything felt right again. John smirked and pointed out a broken sign, sticking out of the ground at the edge of the cliff. “Scenic View”, it advertised. They laughed again. Jade brushed her legs off, wiped the last little droplet from her eye, and stood up. John put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a consoling smile.

“i’m sorry about everything, jade.”

She shook her head.

“it isnt your fault.”

“i know, but…i’m still sorry.” There was a long pause before he spoke again. “i guess we need to go find my – sorry, our dad. wherever he went.”

“yeah.”

His arm fell from her shoulder and he took her hand, leading her away from the vault. To their right, a soft slope formed a path down the cliffside. They made their way down, and stopped once they reached the road.

“so, uh. where do you think we should go? the computer in the overseer’s office mentioned a place named Megaton, but there weren’t any directions.”

There was a very pregnant pause. Jade scanned the area, but she had no clue what direction to look in. The desolate neighborhood was to their left, and the road continued on to the right as well. Neither path looked particularly appealing…but then, nothing in the wasteland did. Heading for civilization seemed like the better bet.

“lets head for the neighborhood over there! maybe somebody still lives there and can tell us where to go.”

John nodded his agreement and they set off down the path. The concrete was cracked open and dotted with potholes; Jade found herself concentrating on keeping her balance, and avoiding divots in the road. A rusted sign announced their arrival in “Springvale”. The majority of the houses in the neighborhood were totalled, with the roofs burnt out and the foundation covered in rubble. The occasional fridge or bathtub poked out from the mess of planks and stones. A few houses were still standing, though the entrances were boarded up. The road curved around the scorched remains of a gas station, which – surprisingly – was still standing.

A small metal orb floated through the air near the station. Jade dashed over to it, curious. It was a robot, covered in antennae and shaped somewhat like a helmet. An inscription on its side read “Model E-1025 Eyebot”. It had a small jet installed underneath it that allowed it to hover. Its face, or the closest thing to a face it had, was a loudspeaker. It was blaring a tinny rendition of the American national anthem. It almost seemed cute.

Unable to resist the urge, Jade poked it. It jetted away from her and fired on her with a small laser. She recoiled sharply and yelped as one of the shots glanced across her arm and left a stinging welt behind. It was only a minor wound, but it burned.

“jade, are you ok?”

John ran up and grabbed her hand, inspecting her arm. The Eyebot resumed playing the national anthem and floated off.

“yeah, im fine…i think it was just trying to defend itself.” she said. “it thought i was attacking it.”

“be careful, jade.”

She nodded, and they resumed exploring the town. Picked apart by the years, the ruins were nearly devoid of supplies. Jade came across a single package of RadAway in what used to be a bathroom, and John found a single boondollar blowing in the wind. Jade was beginning to think that there was nothing useful to be found when she stumbled across a house. It was standing upright, and the doors were not boarded up like the other houses.

“john!! over here!”

John followed her voice, and when he arrived she knocked on the door. There was no response.

“hello??? is anyone here?” she called, as she knocked again. Silence. She shrugged her shoulders and, cautiously, opened the door. She took a single step inside and was greeted by a pistol aimed squarely at her forehead.

“whoa whoa whoa!!”

She stumbled backwards. The house’s inhabitant – a 30-something woman with curly blonde hair – shook the gun menacingly and stepped forwards. She spoke, and her voice was hoarse.

“Who are you? If Ampora sent you, I’m giving you ten seconds to run before I shoot.”

Jade took another jump backwards, and spread her arms to signal her peaceful intentions. John quickly followed suit.

“i am jade harley, and this is my brother john! we have come from vault 413 and we are looking for our father, we dont know who that ampora guy is!”

The woman relaxed slightly, but kept her aim steady. “I haven’t seen anyone around. I don’t know where your father is. Now, get out and don’t tell anyone you’ve seen me here.”

“why?” Jade said.

“Some asshole thinks I owe him money. I don’t. I heard he was sending someone out to ‘collect’ it, so I ran. Hid away in this little shack.”

“but why would he think that if its not true?”

The woman shook her head and scowled. “You lived a sheltered life up in that vault, didn’t you? Some people are assholes. Ampora is one of them.”

“ok…well, goodbye. um…”

“Silver. My name is Silver.”

“goodbye silver!!”

Jade waved and turned to leave. John stopped her, and turned to speak to Silver.

“wait, before we go. can you tell us where megaton is?”

Silver narrowed her eyes. “Step back. And don’t make any funny moves!”

The two did as they were told, and Silver left her house. She walked out to the road and pointed them in the direction they had come from.

“Follow the road in the other direction for a while. Megaton is off to the side. Big hulking metal dome, you can’t miss it. Ampora runs a saloon there – whatever you do, don’t trust him.”

John reached out to shake her hand, and she cautiously accepted.

“thanks, silver. good luck avoiding that ampora guy!”

“Yeah. Good luck finding your dad.”

She waved to him, and then to Jade, and headed back to her house. Jade was grateful for the encounter –even more glad that John had thought to ask her about Megaton. Their journey seemed less bleak with a destination in mind.

“come on john, lets go!!!” She ushered him back onto the road, moving quicker than before. She was eager to find civilization again, and judging by the smile on John’s face, so was he. While they walked, they amused themselves by discussing their favorite comic book series. John insisted that Problem Sleuth was the best character, while Jade was adamant that Pickle Inspector was the better detective.  Their argument was loud, though good-spirited, and it carried them straight to the edge of the road. The great metal dome that Silver had mentioned was just barely visible over the crest of a hill.

Jade was about to make it over the ridge when she heard voices coming from the other side. They seemed to be squabbling over something.

“Two little fucks too busy yellin’ at each other to see us, they’re great targets.”

“We too close to the city, sommun might see us and then we be fucked!”

“So we pop a cap, loot ‘em, and split, what’s the big de—“

The voice stopped dead as Jade reached the top of the hill and spotted the source of the argument. It was two ragged and dirty men, wearing blood-stained leather armor, and clutching pistols. They had Mohawk-style haircuts and similarly spiked boots and gloves. They turned to look at her, their eyes wild.

“Fucker, you distracted me and now she’s here!”

“Shoot da bitch, shoot her!”

She had no time to react before one of them aimed his pistol at her and fired. The bullet ripped through her right shoulder and she tumbled backwards off the hill, the sudden pain scorching through her mind. Somewhere, far in the distance it seemed, she heard John shout and more gunfire. She looked up, her vision blurred, to see John attacking one of the thugs with his hammer. There were more voices, and other people seemed to be coming. A body stumbled backwards and collapsed, rolling down the hill.

 _“It can’t be John,”_ she thought. _“John can’t be dead, he can’t be!”_

She turned to look at the body, apprehensive. It was one of the wild men. His eyes were glassy and blank, and there was a gunshot wound in his neck. He was definitely dead.

“jade, are you ok?” There was movement next to her, and she looked up to see John staring at her, concerned. His face was spattered with blood, and so was the hammer in his hand. She tried to raise her head and she met with success, but the pain in her shoulder was crippling and she almost fell again. Behind John, two unfamiliar people were swimming in and out of her blurry vision. John reached out a hand and pulled her to her feet, and she realized her entire right side was drenched in her warm blood.

“Hang on, nak! Get some pressure on her wound right away!”

One of the men behind John handed him a thick scrap of fabric, and he pressed it onto the bullet wound. Her nerves erupted with pain again, but the bleeding slowed. She blinked a few times, nodded her head to show that she was alright, and took hold of the fabric, relieving John of his duty. Her legs felt weak and woozy, but she was still standing.

“You gotta watch out for the nakking raiders. They’ll fuck you up something fierce.”

 Jade took a good look at the man who was speaking, and almost recoiled in shock. His skin was leathery and covered in red scales, and his eyes were a bright blue. His teeth were razor-sharp inside an elongated mouth, which was twitching nervously. He was wearing tattered armor much like the raiders that had attacked her, but it looked cleaner. Behind him was a woman who had similar reptilian features. She was clutching an assault rifle and guarding a great heap of supplies that were carried by a two headed cow.

“w-who are…?”

“Merchants,” the man replied, “On our daily route to Megaton. Good thing we were here, nak. You two were in over your heads.”

The second raider was lying at the merchant woman’s feet. She kicked his body as she stepped forwards.

“The little shits thought they could start trouble right nakkin’ next to a city. Idiots, nak.”

“Nak kiddin’,” agreed the man, “But you two were even dumber. Keep your weapons nakked at all times, and if you see someone who looks like those guys, shoot on sight. They’re raiders, and they don’t give a damn about anyone else, nak. They just want to kill and loot.”

“we didn’t know,” John interjected, “we’re from a vault.”

He turned to look at Jade. She tried to smile, and make it seem like she was fine, but she could only manage a grimace.

“is she going to be ok?”

The merchant man nodded. “She’ll be fine. Get her to Megaton and go see Doc Church. He’ll get you fixed up. For a fee, nakka nak.”

“er, we don’t have any money.”

“Well ain’t that a load of nak, then?” said the woman. The man waved her off and forced a bundle of boondollars into John’s hand.

“Here you go, that’ll cover you. But I’m only helping you just this once, nak. Nak time, you’re on your own. And if you see me again, you’d better be nakkin’ buying something.”

He winked and motioned to the woman. They began to head off along the road.

“thanks, mr. merchant!” John called after them.

“yeah….thanks.” Jade managed. Her head was pounding and her shoulder felt like it was on fire. She was grateful to still be conscious. If the bullet had hit her somewhere more important…

“come on, jade. we’ve got to get to megaton, now.”

John put her arm around her, as gently as he could, and coaxed her forwards. Together, they rounded the hill and started off towards Megaton. The pace was slow, but thankfully, the city was very near. It took only a minute to reach the entrance. The gate was massive, a gigantic arch of mismatched metal welded together to form an opening. A humanoid, Protectron-model robot was standing guard at the entrance. It waved its arm clunkily and announced, “WELCOME TO MEGATON. FRIENDLIEST TOWN AROUND. HAVE YOURSELF A NICE VISIT, PARTNER.”

Jade hoped it _would_ be a nice visit. At the very least, she hoped the doctor would be able to fix her shoulder, and somebody in the town would know where her father was. The robot tilted its head in a rough facsimile of a nod, and motioned to a man who was standing guard in a crow’s nest high above the door. The man pulled a lever, and with a mighty mechanical roar, the gate began to open. Jade took a wobbling step towards the entrance. John nodded to her, smiling softly, and together the two siblings from Vault 413 walked past the gate and into the town.


End file.
